Home Construction/Makeover/Maintenance Thread

This is a discussion on Home Construction/Makeover/Maintenance Thread within Shifting gears, part of the Around the Corner category; Originally Posted by black12rr
Boleroboy , these can be used only in Non-load bearing walls only.So you are using RCC ...

The costs i mentioned were for construction of just the ground floor with basic amenities i.e. civil construction, marble flooring, and basic bath fittings. If you go overboard and spend on a modular kitchen, Italian marble or luxury bath fittings, there's no limit. Also my estimate does not include any wood work except the doors and windows.

I am looking at laying concrete blocks (or whatever) in the car parking area. It is approx 500 sq. ft, and approx. square. Reason I am asking is that while most concrete blocks look fantastic and tantalising when newly laid; couple of years later, they look just so and so; with algae build up etc.

The trick seems to lie in the surface finishing. Any idea about what is available?

I do not want a full concrete layer with tiles on top - apart from costs, it does not allow water to seep through. What I have in mind is the kind of blocks which you simply lay over tightly packed sand / gravel / granite dust / granite "baby" metal.

For those looking at constructing houses - Costs is approx 0.75 to 0.9 K per square feet in KL for super structure alone - up to plastering stage. Once plastering is done, painting; tiling, shuttering, doors and window works, flooring etc. come in.

For example, you get floor tiles for as little as ₹ 11/- per sq. ft. to ₹ 300/- per sq. ft. tiles. You get taps for as little as ₹ 25/- for plastic taps to exotic brands costing upwards of ₹ 2500/-.

So, expect a "bare-bones" house at approx ₹ 950/- per sq. feet; and you are free to spend anything higher.

In my opinion, this construction business is one area where you will always get cheated, no matter what precaution you take. The last heard prices in Bangalore for constructing ground floor building is between 1.1L to 1.4L for 1 square (i.e., 10x10 or 100sft) including everything from a contractor as one of my friend is contemplating the the options of his construction.

What is being said is
- you save upto 30% if you just give the labor contract and source the material yourself
- Only problem would be with the sand which you have to buy - where you are not sure of the quality & quantity.
- All other material can be sourced easily
- pain of co-ordinating with the various teams, civil work, plumber, flooring, electrical etc
- you can force them to what you exactly want, unlike an outsourced activity
- joy of you built your house

Working with these laborers is a real pain. They just disappear one day and work just stops. This is irrespective of whether you give a contract (less likely as you have someone to grab the neck) or you are getting it done on your own.

Entire industry works on commission with no respect what so ever to quality & timeliness. Even if you are willing to pay more, you get cheated here. This is what I experienced when we built our house about an year back.

Door locks: I am not looking for expensive electronic ones but solid mechanical locks. Went to Home Town at Marathahalli and checked few Godrej ones. They have very few collection and did not like any of those. I find their prices are inflated. Who is the best lock dealer in Bangalore?

Sanitary ware: Checked CERA, Hindware, Roca - I am not an expert but did a casual check. Which one is best reliable VFM brand?

Bathroom fittings: Again I am looking for reliable VFM - I do not know any other brand other than Jaguar.

Door locks: I am not looking for expensive electronic ones but solid mechanical locks. Went to Home Town at Marathahalli and checked few Godrej ones. They have very few collection and did not like any of those. I find their prices are inflated. Who is the best lock dealer in Bangalore?

Sanitary ware: Checked CERA, Hindware, Roca - I am not an expert but did a casual check. Which one is best reliable VFM brand?

Bathroom fittings: Again I am looking for reliable VFM - I do not know any other brand other than Jaguar.

I have a query for my apartment complex @ Bangalore. We are in the process of figuring out the annual maintainance work to be done in our complex. In summary:

- Its a 24 flat, 4 floors, 6 flats per floor apartment complex
- Land area should be 150 by 200 feet
- Basement is concreted. Surrounding the basement - driveways i.e, from the pillar end to the compound wall has cement tiles laid on flattened sand/jelly mixture

Work to be done includes:

- Remove the cement tiles are concrete the area - this is because the tiles seep in and look odd over a period of time.
- Painting of exteriors of apartment complex along with common area walls (stairs, basement, corridors, ducts etc)
- Rain water harvesting - pipes laid from roof to basement; separate tank exists; filters to be installed and connected to tank
- Floor tiles in basement and corridors - replace/polish

I know I'll need to outsource each work to a contractor. Suggestions are welcome.

I am based out of Mumbai. Planning to get the flooring changed in my flat with 2x2 vitrified tiles. Have got a quotation of 250Rs per sq ft inclusive of all material+labour (including breakage, disposal). The 250Rs per sq ft includes 50Rs per sq ft for 2x2 vitrified tiles.

My doubts:
1. Is the 250Rs rate reasonable?
2. What brand of vitrified tiles can I get for around 50 Rs per sq feet?

Experts and people who have recently remodelled their home, please advise.

I am based out of Mumbai. Planning to get the flooring changed in my flat with 2x2 vitrified tiles. Have got a quotation of 250Rs per sq ft inclusive of all material+labour (including breakage, disposal). The 250Rs per sq ft includes 50Rs per sq ft for 2x2 vitrified tiles.

My doubts:
1. Is the 250Rs rate reasonable?
2. What brand of vitrified tiles can I get for around 50 Rs per sq feet?

Experts and people who have recently remodelled their home, please advise.

I am not an expert but think the rate quoted is on the higher side. Labour expenses alone should be Rs. 10-15/sq.ft and remaining on material. You can easily get the work done using paste and without much material as the surface is already there.

Please ensure that you buy good quality tiles as the joints will not be proper in 2nd and 3rd quality tiles even for good brands.

BTW, I am looking for a 30X40 house plan in Bangalore (Panchayat area). Any suggestions on Bangalore architects?

Dude, for 250 INR per sq feet, you ougth to be able to get very high quality marble.

While dealing with flooring, please differentiate between rates per square feet (or unit area) and rates per tile. This can get very confusing. For some brands / price pointy, they quote price per tile; and for others, they quote per unit area.

"material" for fixing tiles is simple paste, and should not cost more than 1K per 1000 or 500 sq. feet. You may need gravel / sand and cement depending levelling of the the surface. And may be, A day's labour per 250 sq. feet. This should be inclusive of cutting for edges. My 15 x 15 feet bathroom took 6 mandays for flooring and 6 feet high tiling.